Stay Vigilant and Keep Fighting Trump’s Hateful Immigration Policies

On January 27, 2017, the president signed the notorious Executive Order he called “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States” (EO 13769), which among other things banned all Iraqi, Syrian, Sudanese, Iranian, Somali, Libyan, and Yemeni nationals from entering the United States for 90 days—including Visa holders and Lawful Permanent Residents. This order also placed a 120 day hold on the entire United States refugee program, and an indefinite ban on all Syrian refugees.

In response, angry Americans showed up by the thousands in giant protests at airports all over the country—and across the world. Activists, organizers, and lawyers offered support and legal assistance to the innocent travelers who were detained at the airports, and separated from their families, their jobs, and educations by Trump’s reckless, hateful EO. These efforts brought a great victory when the states of Washington and Minnesota sued to enjoin the EO from being enforced, arguing that the EO harmed state University students, faculty, and their families, interfered with the states’ ability to perform research and education, and that the EO was an unconstitutional “Muslim ban.” Last week the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in favor of the states, upholding the Court’s right to stop the EO from being enforced.

This fight is far from over. Trump has stated that he will draft a new EO in place of 13769, and two other anti-immigrant EOs he signed on January 25 are still in place. In his EO titled “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements,” Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security to start construction of the “wall” along the Mexican border, and hire 5,000 new border patrol agents; and in his EO titled “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States” he declared that all “sanctuary” jurisdictions are ineligible for any Federal grants, and gave individual immigration officers more authority to decide who should be targeted for deportation. In addition, it appears that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has been conducting aggressive sweeps and deportations in cities around the country.

New Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) Memos. On February 21, 2017, DHS unveiled two memos laying out a series of steps the department plans to take to implement Trump’s EOs from January. The new rules will greatly expand the number of immigrants prioritized for removal, although the department claims the policies will not affect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”). We note that nothing in the EO’s specifically references DACA recipients. Stay tuned for further updated analysis on these new memos and other news, as this area continues to unfold almost daily.